Spring-hinge



J. KAUFMAN.

SPRING HINGE. APPLICATION FILED APR. 3, 1920.

Patented J un 22, 1920;

ATTORNEY UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN KAUFMAN, OF PRAIRIE DU SAC, WISCONSIN.

SPRING-HINGE.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, JOHN KAUFMAN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Prairie du Sac, in the county of Sank and State of WVisconsin, have invented new and useful Improvements in Spring-Hinges, of which the following is a specification.

The present invention has reference to a means for converting an ordinary hinge into a spring hinge.

The improvement is in the nature of a door closer, and while primarily devised for employment on the hinges of automobile doors may be applied with equal efiiciency on other hinged devices, and the primary object is to produce a member constructed to provide crossed wings which are con nected by spring wings whereby the said coils will exert a pressure toward each other, the wings being arranged on the opposite sides of the butts or plates of an ordinary hinge, and the pintle for the barrels of the hinge, or a longer pintle may pass through the connecting ends of the wings and also the barrels of the hinge.

A further object is to produce a door closing means designed to be employed as an attachment for a hinge, that shall be constructed from a single strand of spring wire, so that the same may be cheaply manufactured, and one which will exert a desired pressure upon the outer faces of the hinged plates to force the same toward each other, and consequently maintain the door connected by the hinge in a closed position.

The drawings illustrate a satisfactory embodiment of the improvement reduced to practice.

In the drawings Figure 1 is a view illustrating the application of the improvement.

Fig. 2 is a top plan view thereof.

Fig. 3 is a view of the improvement detached.

In the drawings I have illustrated my improvement as applied to a hinge of an automobile door. The plates of the hinge are indicated by the numeral 1, the inter engaging barrels by the numeral 2 and the pintle that passes through the barrels by the numeral 3. In instances where the pintle 3 is only of a length to pass through the barrels of a hinge, said pintles are discarded when my improvement is attached, as a comparatively long pintle is required Specification of Letters Patent. Patented J 22 1920 Application filed April 3, 1920.

Seria1 No. 371,071.

as will be apparent from the following descriptlon.

My improved attachment for hinges is constructed from a single strand of spring wire and includes wings at and 5 respectively. Each of the wings comprises a member which is U-shaped in plan, the inner wing 5 being of a less length than the outer wing 4c, and the wings cross each other, that is the parallel arms of the U-shaped wings are disposed at opposite angles. This angular relation of the wings is provided for by the spring connecting means for the arms of the said wings. The connecting means is provided by coiling the wire, as indicated by the numeral 6. The coils are of a frusto-conical formation, being wider at the portions thereof connected to the arms of the inner wing 5 and gradually decreasing in width to their connection with the arms of the outer wing 4c. The distance between the coils 5 corresponds to the length of the hinge, and the said coils are disposed over the ends at the barrel portion of the hinge after the pintle 3 has been removed. By this arrangement it will be noted that one of the wings, 5, will contact with one of the plates 1 of the hinge, and the second wing, 4:, will contact with the outer face of the second plate 1. The removed pintle, or a longer pintle, as heretofore stated is passed through the coils and through the barrels 2, so that the device is thus connected to the hinge and the crossed wings, exerting a pressure toward each other will force the hinged plate into contacting engagement. Thus it will be seen that when the door is opened in the usual manner my improvement will cause the same .to be swung closed. The confronting ends of the wire that constitute the improvement terminate approximately centrally with the outer member of the wing 4:, and these ends are received in a sleeve 7.

My improvement is of an extremely simple nature and in no way detracts from the ornamentality of the hinge on which it is positioned.

Having thus described the invention, what I claim is 1. An attachment for hinges for swinging the plates thereof against each other, comprising a member including crossed wings that are connected by spring coils which are disposed over the barrel of the hinge plate and secured thereto by the pintle connecting the plates whereby each wing will exert a spring pressure in the direction of the hinged plate with which it contacts.

2. In a means for converting an ordinary hinge into a spring hinge; a spring wire bent upon itself to provide two substantially U-shaped wings. that are arranged in crossed relation to each other whereby to contact 10 with the outer faces of the respective plates JOHN KAUFMAN. 

